This portion of the speech reveals the main requirement for this to be successful:
> Death penalty for traffickers, in our experience, has been an effective deterrent, as part of a framework of laws, coupled with effective enforcement based on rule of law. Drug traffickers stay out of Singapore now, largely, because of the knowledge: first, that there is a highly professional and incorruptible police force and there is a high probability that they will get caught; and second, there is rule of law, an independent judiciary and a high probability that, based on the laws, they will face the death penalty. So we do not have slums, ghettoes, no-go zones for the police, or syringes in our playgrounds.
I don't think you can have the latter without the former.
Japan has very low rates of drug crime, and the punishment is far more lenient than the death penalty.
Both Singapore and Japan have low rates of crime in general, especially drug crime and gun crime -- two kinds of crimes that depend on criminals having access to items that are highly regulated or completely banned.
I think the conclusion to draw from this is that islands are able to control their borders pretty well, and they can prevent a lot of contraband from coming in. That alone is sufficient to explain the low rate of drug crime in Japan, where drug trafficking is not a capital crime. It's probably also sufficient for Singapore, which means that the death penalty explanation is probably overdetermined.
Japan has low crime, by and large, because they have only a single criminal organization: the Yakuza.
They are not nice people, but as criminal organizations go, having one that views itself as the protector of the people isn't so bad.
After the massive earthquake a few years ago, the Yakuza were among the first to offer aid and assistance to the region -- ahead of the national government, even.
And, if you are going to engage in criminal enterprise in Japan, you need their blessing. If you attempt to sell drugs here without their permission, you will quickly find yourself suffering from an acute case of death.
> Death penalty for traffickers, in our experience, has been an effective deterrent, as part of a framework of laws, coupled with effective enforcement based on rule of law. Drug traffickers stay out of Singapore now, largely, because of the knowledge: first, that there is a highly professional and incorruptible police force and there is a high probability that they will get caught; and second, there is rule of law, an independent judiciary and a high probability that, based on the laws, they will face the death penalty. So we do not have slums, ghettoes, no-go zones for the police, or syringes in our playgrounds.
I don't think you can have the latter without the former.